The Grizzlies beat Judge Memorial 28-12 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday to take their second title in three years.

"We had a slow start last time," Logan's Jeff Manning said about losing to Judge by four touchdowns in early September. "We had to come out fast. They thought they had us easy, but you don't like a team that comes out hard and hits you in the mouth."

That's essentially what the Grizzlies did on the first play of the game. Logan started off the game with a short, high kick that went about 15 yards and the Grizzlies got to the ball before any Judge players did. Logan got the ball at the Bulldogs' 32-yard line and the drive was capped off with Manning running the ball in from 12 yards for Logan's first score.

The play gave Logan the early mental edge.

"We knew if we got on top and kept pounding, we could win," said Devin Peterson, who took over quarterback duties in the second half after Manning bruised his thumb. "But defense was important, too. If we were going to win, it was going to be [because of] our defense."

The Logan defense forced five fumbles and recovered four of them. The fumbles come at bad times as most of them occurred when the Bulldogs were just finding an offensive rhythm.

Then in the second quarter, Jordan Ballam intercepted a pass intended for Lewis Walker at the 29-yard line. All of the Bulldogs' turnovers came in the first half.

"We played poorly to start the game, we turned the ball over. Every game we've lost this season, we've turned the ball over four-plus times," Judge coach James Cordova said. "They out-gameplanned us. We were off-balance."

The second half was a different story. Logan didn't press as hard on defense and turned slowed down as they turned to Peterson. Even though Peterson finished with 115 rushing yards - most of them in second half - the Grizzlies didn't score in the last two quarters.

"They just got into that run set and went real conservative," Cordova said. "It ate up the clock. It was brilliant. It pays to have danced at the dance before."

Judge did have its chances, though. The Bulldogs showed their potential in both of their touchdowns. In the second quarter, Lewis Walker found an opening and ran in 48 yards for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Joe Pond connected with Keenyn Walker for an impressive 61-yard touchdown pass.

But Judge couldn't score when it needed it the most - the Grizzlies stopped Judge at their 46-yard line and the Bulldogs couldn't convert on a fourth-and-3 with 3:44 left in the game.

"Other people said it was luck," Favero said. "We didn't. We knew all along it was hard work and perseverance [that won this game for us.]"

mthach@sltrib.com